Language in International Business

One of the first barriers that companies face on the path of internationalisation is difference in natural languages.

Surprisingly though, language in international business has long remained an ignored research field. There might be several reasons for this.

Why is this an ignored research field?

Business researchers and linguists alike may have been deterred by the cross-disciplinary nature of the subject.

The pre-eminence of Anglophone researchers who may have a reduced perception of the importance of language.

The enormous influence of Hofstede's cultural dimensions and the Kogut & Singh scale for cultural differences, which eclipsed the earlier but more cumbersome cultural measure of Psychic Distance in which language difference was a crucial component.

The language barrier and its solutions

Perhaps the most serious barrier to language research in business has been the absence of clear conceptual frameworks that explain how the language barrier actually works and what solutions might be available. With Alan Feely I published two papers that helped answering these questions, one focusing on the language barrier in HQ-subsidiary relationships and one on language management in MNCs. On a citations per year basis, these two papers have become two of the three most cited papers published in Cross Cultural Management: an International Journal since its inception.

Scenario-based research: response styles and leadership styles

In 2005 I started a new project that investigated the impact of language on management practices within MNCs, funded by an ARC Discovery Grant of more than A$190,000. Part of this project used a critical incident technique to collect data with MBA students in 20 different countries, leading to a systematic comparison of ranking and rating to study cross-cultural differences.

A second paper - published in a special issue of the Journal of World Business in 2011- examined whether managerial reactions to specific leadership scenario-based situations change as a consequence of the language they use.

English and competitive behaviour

An experimental study with Dirk Akkermans and Arjen van Witteloostuijn showed that language impacts the competitive behaviour of students. A prisoner’s dilemma game played in English lead to significantly more competitive behaviour than when the same game was played in Dutch. The resulting paper was published in Management International Review in 2010.

Language in HQ subsidiary relationships

A large-scale cross-sectional survey in a wide range of host countries (Australia/NZ, China, Japan, Korea, France, Germany, Spain, UK, Denmark, Finland, Norway & Sweden) resulted in an article that proposes four home country clusters (Anglophone, Asian, Continental European and Nordic) that show substantial differences in terms of language competencies, policies and practices.

Zhang, L.E.; Harzing, A.W. (2017) Language as a Local Practice: Why English as a Corporate Language Won’t Work in China, paper presented at the 16th European Academy of Management annual meeting,June 21-24, Glasgow, UK. [1st runner-up of the Journal of Global Mobility (JGM) Best Paper Award, EURAM 2017 Conference]

Harzing, A.W. (2016) Language and thinking in management and OS field: Main findings and challenges, towards a European multilingual field, panel presentation at the 15th European Academy of Management annual meeting,June 1-4, Paris, France. Available online...

Zander, L.; Mockaitis, A.; Harzing, A.W. et al. (2009) Why do leaders do what they do? A 22-country study on leadership behavioral intent, paper presented at the 2009 Academy of International Business annual meeting, June 27-30, San Diego, California.

Harzing, A.W.; and 26 collaborators (2009) Rating versus ranking: what is the best way to reduce response and language bias in cross-national research?, International Business Review, vol. 18, no. 4, pp. 417-432.

Harzing, A.W.; and 26 collaborators (2007) Ranking versus rating: What is the best way to reduce response and language bias in cross-national research?, conference proceedings of the ANZIBA annual meeting, 8-10 November 2007, Newcastle, Australia.

Harzing, A.W. (2005) The language barrier and its implications for HQ-subsidiary relationships, paper presented at the third JIBS frontiers conference, Rotterdam, 28-30 September.

Feely, A.J.; Harzing, A.W. (2004) The language barrier and its implications for HQ-subsidiary relationships, paper presented at the 64th annual meeting of the Academy of Management, New Orleans, August 6-11. Available online...

Feely, A.J.; Harzing, A.W. (2002) Forgotten and neglected - Language: The orphan of International Business research, paper presented at the 62nd annual meeting of the Academy of Management, Denver, 9-14 August. Available online...

Anne-Wil Harzing is Professor of International Management at Middlesex University, London and visiting professor of International Management at Tilburg University. In addition to her academic duties, she also maintains the Journal Quality List and is the driving force behind the popular Publish or Perish software program.